BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Police in Alabama are getting ready to enforce what is considered by many as the toughest immigration law in the United States.

Beginning Thursday, authorities can question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and officials can check the immigration status of students in public schools, Gov. Robert Bentley said.

Those two key aspects of Alabama's new law were upheld by a federal judge on Wednesday.

The governor said parts of the law take effect immediately.

"Today Judge Blackburn upheld the majority of our law," Gov. Robert Bentley said in a brief statement he delivered outside the State Capitol in Montgomery, The New York Times reported. "With those parts that were upheld, we have the strongest immigration law in the country."

However, he also said that the law "was never de­signed to hurt fellow human beings," according to the Montgomery Advertiser. "As a physician, I would never ask a sick per­son if she was legal or illegal. But as governor of this state, it is my sworn duty to uphold this state's laws, and that is what I intend to do," Bentley said.

Left standing were several key elements that help make the Alabama law stricter than similar laws passed in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. Other federal judges have blocked all or parts of those.

Appeal expected There are three separate lawsuits against the Alabama law, including a challenge from President Barack Obama's administration. Blackburn's ruling is expected to be appealed.

John Carroll, a former U.S. magistrate judge who is now dean of Samford University's law school in suburban Birmingham, said Blackburn's ruling was mostly consistent with decisions from other states with the exception of her allowing Alabama's "stop and ask" provision, which lets police request people's immigration papers.

"I think down the line there are other arguments that can be made as the case goes forward," said Carroll.

Agricultural leaders fear the law could cost farmers money this autumn by scaring away Hispanic workers who are vital to harvesting crops statewide.

"There are some sweet potato farmers in this state it's really going to hurt. I don't know how they're going to get their crops out," said Jeremy Calvert, a farmer in rural Bremen.

Zan Green, a Tea Party activist in metro Birmingham, said she was happy with the decision, saying citizens of foreign countries have benefited for years through welfare, entitlements, education, medical care and child tax credits.

"Judge Blackburn's ruling is the beginning of removing the enormous financial burden of illegal immigration from the backs of Alabama citizens," she said in a statement.

"We're really disappointed," Andre Segura of the American Civil Liberties Union, a plaintiff in one of the suits, told The New York Times. "We already know that this is going to cause a lot of problems in Alabama."

Pam Long, an Auburn University Montgomery professor who was also a plaintiff in the suit, told the Montgomery Advertiser that she was concerned that un­documented immigrants might be denied basic services.

"If people are paying for services like water and electricity, why would any­body care what their status is when you're connecting electricity and water?" she told the Advertiser.

Schools to verify citizenship The judge refused to block a section of the law that requires public schools to verify students' citizenship and report overall statistics to the state, but the immediate effect isn't clear since schools have already started. Alabama was the first state to include such a provision, so Blackburn's decision could set a blueprint should others adopt similar laws.

Immigration became a hot issue in Alabama over the past decade as the state's Hispanic population grew by 145 percent to about 185,600. While the group still represents only about 4 percent of the population, some counties in north Alabama have large Spanish-speaking communities and schools where most of the students are Hispanic.

Alabama Republicans have long sought to clamp down on illegal immigration and passed the law earlier this year after gaining control of the Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Bentley signed it, saying it was vital to protect jobs of legal residents.

Republican Sen. Scott Beason, one of the sponsors of the bill, was happy with Blackburn's decision and hopes, like the governor, that the entire law takes effect after appeals.

"There are still legal questions and there's still work to be done," he said.

Blackburn's orders temporarily blocked several parts of the law until she can issue a final ruling. Those measures would:

•Make it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work.•Make it a crime to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant.•Allow discrimination lawsuits against companies that dismiss legal workers while hiring illegal immigrants.•Forbid businesses from taking tax deductions for wages paid to workers who are in the country illegally.•Bar illegal immigrants from attending public colleges.•Bar drivers from stopping along a road to hire temporary workers.•Make federal verification the only way in court to determine if someone is here legally.Peter Spiro, a law professor at Temple University, told the Times that the decision "really gives the anti-immigration folks more of a victory than they've been getting in other courts."

"There's a lot for them to be happy about," he said, but he added that, "this is not the last word on the constitutionality of this statute."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.~Pink Snowman

ATLANTA (AP) — A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked parts of what has been called the toughest immigration law in the country, saying the state of Alabama can't require schools to check the immigration status of students but letting stand a provision that allows police to detain immigrants who are suspected of being in the country illegally.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the order after the Obama administration challenged the Alabama law, saying it could strain relations with Latin American countries, and advocacy groups said it had thrown the state into "chaos."

Friday's opinion also blocked a part of the Alabama law that makes it a crime for immigrants to not have proper documentation.

A final decision on the law won't be made for months, to allow time for more arguments.

Many frightened Hispanics have left the state since a U.S. judge upheld much of the law in late September, fearing they could be arrested or targeted by police. Construction workers, landscapers and field hands stopped coming to work, and large numbers of Hispanic students have been absent from public schools.

To cope with the labor shortage, Alabama agriculture commissioner John McMillan at one point suggested farmers should consider hiring inmates in the state's work-release program.

The U.S. Justice Department has called the Alabama law a "sweeping new state regime," and it urged the appeals court to forbid states from creating a patchwork of immigration policies. The agency said the law could strain diplomatic relations with Latin American countries, who have warned the law could impact millions of workers, tourists and students in the U.S.

The law, the department said, turns illegal immigrants into a "unique class who cannot lawfully obtain housing, enforce a contract, or send their children to school without fear that enrollment will be used as a tool to seek to detain and remove them and their family members."

Immigration has become a key issue in Alabama over the past decade as the Hispanic population has grown by 145 percent to about 185,600 people, most of them of Mexican origin. Some counties in north Alabama have large Spanish-speaking communities and schools where most of the students are Hispanic.

Alabama's law was considered by both opponents and supporters to be stricter than similar laws enacted in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. U.S. judges in those states have blocked all or parts of those measures.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer earlier this year asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the legal fight over her state's tough immigration law.

Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.~Pink Snowman

Some of it I had no idea because it really doesn't matter to someone living somewhere else, but some of it was mind numbingly easy (if you don't know what oceans are on which side of ANY continent frankly you should be disqualified from reproduction unless you come from a place with near-zero education...).

If someone was studying for this at all it seems pretty bloody easy (assuming it doesn't get harder), I got half right out of what I tried and that's purely from common knowledge and paying vague attention to the world around me.

Stuff like who's in charge of what I had no idea, the military one was a trick question in my opinion (OF COURSE the bloody military is technically under the authority of the leader of the bloody country, I thought they wanted to know who was actually in charge of running the damned thing on a day to day basis...).

Or "who's the father of the US" hell if I know, it's Lincoln or Washington, I can never remember which! (Now I know, but I'll forget in a week anyways).

But yeah, if this was the test that was going to get me citizenship in a country I wanted to join, easy as pie man (other than remembering specific names like who is the speaker of the house or whatever, I don't even remember that shit for my own country ).

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants, widely seen as the toughest in the United States, has cost the state's economy up to $10.8 billion, according to a new study.

The Alabama law, passed in June, requires police to detain people they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason, among other measures.

The cost-benefit analysis by University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy estimated up to 80,000 jobs were vacated by illegal immigrants fleeing the crackdown, costing Alabama's economy up to $10.8 billion.

The lost jobs also cost Alabama up to $264.5 million in lost state sales and income taxes, and as much as $93.1 million in lost city and county sales taxes, it found.

A U.S. appeals court has blocked Alabama from enforcing parts of the law, including a provision that permits Alabama to require public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. But the court left most of the law untouched.

State Republicans who support the law say it will help create jobs for legal residents by driving out undocumented workers and their families, and save up to $280 million they said is spent by the state each year on health and education services for the undocumented.

The findings of the new University of Alabama study served up ammunition to critics of the law in the state, which is trying to trim spending to balance its budget.

"It is hypocritical for 'no tax and spend' Republicans to pass something like this that sucks money right out of the general fund when we are cutting funding by 25 percent," said state Representative Patricia Todd, a Birmingham Democrat.

Todd claims that $9 million has already been spent on litigation to defend the new law, a figure she said she received from the legislative fiscal office.

The study added in the costs of healthcare and social services to undocumented people that would be saved. However, it found these savings to be negligible when compared to the increased costs of law enforcement and businesses that now have to run checks on citizenship.

Alabama Legislature convenes February 7 and even staunch defenders of the bill admit it needs revision. However, the repeal sought by opponents seems unlikely, according to Representative Paul DeMarco, a Republican.

"I do not see and would not support a complete repeal of the law, but will look at recommendations being made by the Attorney General and others," said DeMarco.

There are an estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah have passed "omnibus" immigration crackdowns since Arizona blazed the trail in 2010 with a law requiring police to check the status of all those they arrested and suspected of being in the country illegally. That measure has since been blocked by a court.

Controversy over the crackdown flared late last year, after two employees with foreign automakers Mercedes-Benz and Honda were stopped by police implementing the law.

Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.~Pink Snowman

Asians have surpassed Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants to the United States, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

The study, called "The Rise of Asian Americans" and released on Tuesday, reveals that Asian-Americans also have the highest income, are the best educated and are the fastest-growing racial group in America.

About 430,000 Asians—or 36 percent of all new immigrants—arrived in the United States in 2010, according to U.S. census data. About 370,000, or 31 percent, were Hispanic.

The wave of incoming Asians pushed the total number of Asian-Americans to a record 18.2 million, or 5.8 percent of the total U.S. population, according to census data. By comparison, non-Hispanic whites (197.5 million) account for 63.3 of the U.S. population, while Hispanics (52 million) and non-Hispanic blacks (38.3 million) account for 16.7 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.

The influx of Asians reflects "a slowdown in illegal immigration while American employers increase their demand for high-skilled workers," the Associated Press said.

"The educational credentials of these recent [Asian] arrivals are striking," the report said. Sixty-one percent of 25-to-64-year-old Asian immigrants come with at least a bachelor's degree—more than double non-Asian immigrants, making the recent Asian arrivals "the most highly educated cohort of immigrants in U.S. history."

The study also found that Asian-Americans are "more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place a greater value on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success."

Last month, data released by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that there were more minority children born in the United States than whites for the first time in history—signaling what the Washington Post called "the dawn of an era in which whites no longer will be in the majority."

According to the census report, 50.4 percent of children born in a 12-month period that ended July 2011 were Hispanic, black, Asian-American or from other minority groups, while non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in that span. In 2010, minority babies accounted for 49.5 percent of all births.

..

Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.~Pink Snowman

The Supreme Court upheld a key part of Arizona's tough anti-illegal immigration law in a 5-3 decision on Monday that allows police officers to ask about immigration status during stops. That part of the law, which never went into effect because of court challenges, will now immediately be enforced in Arizona. Other parts of the law, including a provision that made it a state crime for illegal immigrants to seek work, will remain blocked. Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's swing vote, wrote the opinion, and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. Conservative Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas partially dissented, saying the entire law should have been upheld.

In the opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote that the federal government's "power to determine immigration policy is well settled." But he also showed concern for what he described as Arizona's outsize burden in dealing with illegal immigration, seeming to sympathize with their decision to butt in on immigration enforcement. "Arizona bears many of the consequences of unlawful im­migration," he wrote. "Hundreds of thousands of deportable aliens are apprehended in Arizona each year." But, ultimately, the justices found that Arizona can not mete out their own state punishments for federal immigration crimes.

"Arizona may have under­standable frustrations with the problems caused by illegal immigration while that process continues, but the State may not pursue policies that undermine federal law," Kennedy writes in the opinion's conclusion.

The police immigration checks are allowed, however, because state police would simply flag federal authorities if they find an illegal immigrant.

The Obama administration sued to block Arizona's law, called SB1070, shortly after it passed two years ago, saying it interfered with federal authority over immigration. The law made it a state crime for illegal immigrants to seek work or fail to carry proper immigration papers. It also requires police officers to check immigration status and make warrantless arrests for immigration crimes in some cases. A federal judge prevented those aspects of the law from going into effect, but the law became a lightning rod around the country, sparking boycotts and counter-boycotts and opening up a debate about the nation's illegal immigrant population.

In oral arguments in April, many of the justices seemed deeply skeptical of the government's argument that local police officers would interfere with federal authority over immigration law they began asking people about their immigration status during stops. Though much of the debate around the law has focused on "racial profiling"--whether Hispanic people would be stopped and questioned by police based on their ethnicity--the government did not even mention those words in their case against the law, instead focusing on the federal government's supremacy in immigration matters. Justices repeatedly criticized the government's argument against immigration checks. Even Sonia Sotomayor, part of the court's liberal wing, said she was "terribly confused" by the government's argument against the checks.

But the liberal justices showed much more hesitation over the parts of the law that made federal immigration crimes into state crimes, which have all now been struck down. Sotomayor singled out the state law against illegal immigrants seeking work, noting that Congress had explicitly rejected a similar law in their immigration legislation, instead choosing to target employers who hire unauthorized workers.

Five states followed Arizona's lead and passed similar laws last year, while similar bills failed in more than two dozen other state legislatures. The decision suggests that any state laws that make federal immigration offenses into state crimes will not stand. But it remains to be seen if the outcome will encourage more states to pass laws that make local police officers check immigration status. The law also became an issue in the presidential race, with Mitt Romney bringing on the law's author, Kris Kobach, as an immigration adviser, and embracing the law's purpose, "self deportation," as his immigration enforcement strategy.

In Arizona v. U.S., Justice Elena Kagan recused herself because she was solicitor general when the Obama administration filed suit against the law. If the court had split 4-4, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision blocking the four major provisions of the law would have stood.